I agree with the logic of the last three attorneys, and I'd suggest extreme caution here. Custodial interference is a felony when perpetrated by the non-custodial parent.

Having said that, these are all just guesses about something we've never seen before. Thinking in the long run, you might lose a portion of your two weeks in June and/ or July if those months are used as school make-up dates, so it might make some sense to exercise additional parenting time now if the mother will allow it. I think this might be the most interesting legal question I've seen on this forum in the past several days related to the ongoing crisis.

I plan to be at Juvenile court tomorrow anyways. I'm going to ask the sitting Magistrate tomorrow what her opinion is, and I'll post an update. I suspect that she'll say the same thing as the last three attorneys, but I think it would be helpful to have a Magistrate weigh in on the matter.

What is your relationship like with the mother? Does she want you to keep the child during the extra time?

I agree with the previous attorneys. Spring vacation is what it is as listed on the school calendar. However, perhaps the two parents can work together to share parenting time during the school outage? If so, I would encourage you to put it in writing and both of you sign it. It's not feasible to get into court right now to get a parenting plan change due to the extended school closure.

Both previous attorneys are correct.

I agree with attorney Huddleston. This COVID-19 situation is unprecedented so there is no bright line answer. If the parenting plan says she gets spring break and it's no longer spring break according to the school calendar, whether the school is still closed or not, then I believe her spring break parenting time ends as normal. The courts are not going to look kindly upon people who use this situation to benefit themselves and potentially violate the parenting plan.

I'd recommend basing the custody on the school calendar published before the school year began.

The courts seek to make decisions out of fairness to both parents and in the best interests of the children. Using an unforeseen emergency like COVID-19 to deprive another parent of visitation is in bad taste and reflects poorly on the willingness to foster the child's relationship with the other parent.

You could go file a petition for a custody change based on the new circumstances and get a later court date for a hearing on the matter, but courts are currently closed for those types of hearings.

Sincerely,

Bob Huddleston